Ilir Emini

[Carolina Panthers @Panthers]

Sweet Caroline and sweet dreams 😴

[NFL @NFL]

FINAL: The @Panthers improve to 2-2 after a primetime home W!

[the Sports ON Tap @thesportsontap]

The last thing Jake Olson ever saw was a USC football practice.

He picked it.

Olson was born with retinal cancer. They took his left eye when he was 10 months old. He grew up seeing out of one.

Then in 2009, when he was 12, the doctors told him the other one had to come out too. There was a date on the calendar for the end of his sight.

Pete Carroll was the head coach at USC then, and somebody told him about a kid in Orange County who loved the Trojans and was about to go blind.

So Carroll brought him in. Team meetings. Practices. The sideline on Saturdays. Not a photo op, an actual membership.

And when the day came, the last day Jake Olson would ever see anything, he chose how to spend it.

He went to USC football practice.

Then they took his eye and the lights went out, and he was 12 years old.

Here is what he did with the next six years.

He learned to snap a football. Blind. By feel, counting steps, listening.

In 2015 he walked on at USC as a long snapper. Not an honorary one. A player on the roster.

And on September 2, 2017, against Western Michigan, USC lined up for an extra point and sent Jake Olson onto the field to snap it.

He got it back clean. The kick was good.

He is the only completely blind player ever to appear in a Division I football game.

Pete Carroll was in Seattle by then, coaching the Seahawks. He watched it on television.

"I couldn't stop crying. It was thrilling."

Olson wrote this afterward.

"If you hadn't made me a member of the Trojan Family when I was 12, I don't know where my life would be."

Now here is the part almost nobody knows.

On January 17, 2025, Jake Olson and his wife Audrey had a son. They named him Rowan.

Rowan was born with retinoblastoma. In both eyes. The same cancer that took his father's sight.

He went through chemotherapy as an infant.

Last September it ended. His doctor says Rowan has excellent vision and appears to be cancer free.

The family went to the Coliseum. They put the baby down on the field where his dad snapped that football.

"Watching Rowan crawl around out there on that grass, it was emotional in a way I didn't expect."

Now the honest part. Appears cancer free is careful language, and that kid will be getting his eyes checked for a long time. Nobody is spiking a ball yet.

But a coach once gave a 12 year old boy one good day before the dark, and that boy grew up and played football for him, and now his son can see.

For more stories like this, follow us on any platform @thesportsontap

[NFL @NFL]

FINAL: @Panthers come out on top in Atlanta!

[Ari Meirov @MySportsUpdate]

#Panthers LB Devin Lloyd today vs. the Falcons:

• 2 INTs (including a pick-6)
• 1 sack
• 9 tackles
• 3 pass deflections
• 2 TFLs
• 1 QB hit

[NFL @NFL]

Lathan Ransom picks it off for the @Panthers!

Stream on @NFLPlus

[NFL @NFL]

Chau Smith-Wade flies in for the @Panthers INT 😮

Stream on @NFLPlus

[Pro Football Hall of Fame @ProFootballHOF]

A force on the field. A legacy in Carolina. Introducing the Bronze Bust of the @Panthers legend, @LukeKuechly!

[NFL @NFL]

HAYNES KING WINS IT FOR THE PANTHERS ‼️

[NFL @NFL]

No. 76 on the NFL Top 100 Players of 2026…

@Panthers CB Jaycee Horn! @NFLFilms

[NFL @NFL]

No. 98 on the NFL Top 100 Players of 2026…

@Panthers QB Bryce Young! @NFLFilms

[𝕍𝕗𝕪𝕟𝕟_🥷🏼 𐙚 @Vfynn_]

🚨🗣️NEW: Zlatan Ibrahimović on FIFA’s new mouth-covering red card rule: as Almiron was given a red card for covering his mouth in the game between Paraguay and Turkey

“I have seen football at its highest level, the real football. Not this watered-down version they are serving us now. What happened with Almirón? A straight red card for covering his mouth? This is not football anymore. This is a circus run by bureaucrats in suits who have never felt the fire of the pitch.”

“Covering your mouth is now a red card? What is this, Big Brother on the field? FIFA wants to read lips, punish thoughts before they even become words. Next they will put muzzles on players like dogs. Players cannot even talk, cannot even breathe passion without some VAR robot or referee deciding your emotions are illegal. This is dystopian. Football is dying.”

“This rule was born because some players cry every week. One incident in the Champions League and suddenly the whole world must change. But elbow a man, break his leg, or spit — sometimes you get a yellow and a pat on the back. Two-tier football. Protect the protected, punish the rest. I have played in every league and I have seen it.”

On the softness of the modern game:
“Maradona would be sent off in the tunnel. Roy Keane? He would laugh at the referee and walk off with a smile while the stands burn. Pepe would have collected five reds before half-time. Today? Players are becoming actors, not warriors. They fall, they cry, they hide behind rules. Where is the masculinity? Where is the character? Football is not ballet. It is war. And they are turning it into a polite conversation with red cards as punctuation.”

“I, Zlatan, have scored goals that made stadiums shake and said things that made opponents tremble — without hiding. This generation is being raised soft. If you cannot handle words on the pitch, how will you handle life? FIFA is not protecting football. They are burying it. And one day, the real fans will rise and say: enough. Bring back the game.”

[Carolina Hurricanes @Canes]

THE CUP RUNS THROUGH CAROLINA

[Believe Sports Group @b3lievesports]

Officially locked in! Congrats, Max!

#GoBirds #BelieveTheMovement

[Ilir Emini @CoachEmini]

We’ve been talking about this since day 1! Go get it @MaximusPulley

[Opta FCS Football @OptaAnalystFCS]

Former Wofford safety Maximus Pulley is reportedly signing with the Eagles as an UDFA.

At his pro day, Pulley ran a 4.45-second 40-yard dash and showcased a 41.5-inch vertical and 10-foot-3 broad jump.

[Hoop Herald @TheHoopHerald]

This is a HEAVY quote here that many people need to hear

“If you disappear on a guy when he makes a mistake, I’m not so sure that’s a genuine relationship you built”

Let this sink in

[Coach Dan Casey @CoachDanCasey]

“I used to think it was cool to get away with not sleeping.

That’s the dumbest sh*t I’ve ever heard.

When your job is to deal with people, you need to establish health habits to sustain [yourself] when there’s a lot of external stressors.”

- Sean McVay

[Matt Zenitz @mzenitz]

The #Eagles are expected to hire Army defensive line coach Allen Smith as an assistant outside linebackers coach, sources tell @CBSSports.

Previously worked in the NFL as an assistant defensive line coach with the Texans in 2021.

[Ilir Emini @CoachEmini]

Heading back home! Congrats coach 🐐

[Jeremy Fowler @JFowlerESPN]

The Browns are adding longtime NFL coach Dom Capers to the coaching staff as a senior defensive assistant, per sources.

Capers, 75, a two-time head coach, was last with the Carolina Panthers.

[ESPN @espn]

Johnny Gaudreau's sweater hangs in Team USA's locker room, while his family is in the stands for the gold medal game.

Johnny's son, Johnny Jr., is celebrating his second birthday today ❤️💙